Chris Olifi's elephant poo paintings viaWe are going through a transition here at PMM HQ. Tiny is letting us know she's around. With. A. Vengeance.
She's been throwing huge tantrums on a daily, let's say hourly basis, and really putting us through our paces.
Is there any downtime?
Currently no. She's been night waking as well which is driving us bonkers. I'm thinking of enlisting her early. Is that wrong?
Additionally to all the tantie-pantsing she's been banging on with, she refuses to wear clothes. As soon as we dress her (if we can dress her), she freaks out and takes everything off. Including her nappy.
This weekend this has resulted in:
- poo on the couch cushion
- me picking her up and smelling the distinct whiff of an incontinent old vagrant, only to realise that she's wee-d all over her bed
- a distinct wee puddle on the carpet
- a very distinct stain on the carpet on Matt's side of the bedroom where he's tried to scrub out her poo-tacular adventures
- the piece de resistance? Matt letting me know that while I was out galavanting with girlfriends, she'd very kindly done some poo paintings in her bed and really worked that pooint into the blanket and actually all the bedding. Phew. Must book in more outings with the gal pals. Narrowly avoided cleaning that up.
Mean Mama has now started rekindling the love of onesies. They are few and far between in size 2. Any other options friends?
25 comments:
Not sure if this will help but will she keep undies on? My daughter took a liking to her brothers jocks so I pulled out the little jocks he had and she loves them. Initially she wasn't toilet trained (this was just before she turned 2) but she quickly learnt to use the toilet.
Is it that she likes the feel of the poo (texture-wise I mean!), a friends son stopped doing similar behaviour when she gave him lots of smearing/handpainting activities during the day (playing with mud, dough, paint from memory)
She did say that she thought it was just a stage though and that she wasn't convinced his stopping had much to do with all those activities!
Good luck with it all (and only a salad to turn to!)
I'm afraid I don't have anything new to add ... only that onsies are your friend. And if you can't find them here, then we found UK-based Mothercare very handy. They do up to size 3! Its a bit extreme, but clearly there's a demand!!
(How tall is Tiny ... because I have at least one long sleeved onsie in almost brand-new condition that you are welcome to. Its for up to 92cm)
overalls - you know with the clippy things that little ones arent so good at undoing (or maybe shes already figured them out) in which case a lot of patience and a great sense of humour (which you seem to have!) OR gaffer tape? start toilet training?
I remember breastfeeding my newborn son (I was going to say No. 2 child but in the context of this post I thought not) while toilet training my daughter and the constant smell of wee on the couch/carpet got too much at times so much for a nice clean fresh smelling couch to sit on or house to walk into.
We got there eventually - it always seems to take longer than it actually does...and yes we've had several poo days too including the time my son handed me a lovely present and I was sooooo close to taking it out of his hand until I realised the ummm organic-ness of his proffered gift and marched him off to place it in the toilet and flush it away to the sound of my husbands hysterical laughter. Would have been a different story if it was HIM that had the outstretched hand he doesnt cope too well with the odd nappyless poo appearance. Pollywaffle anyone??
Good Luck !!
That should read " HIM that had been presented with the outstretched hand"
Grammar slip up there makes it sound like it was my (fully toilet trained) husband with the poo sharing problem : )
And that would be wrong. Very wrong.
Oh gosh, no advice here because we haven't reached that stage yet and after what you've described, I have my fingers and toes crossed we never do.
Good luck on finding a quick solution!
lexi, would it help you to know that over at chez trbuhovich we are experiencing the exact same situation?!! knowing that there is only a day between the bdays of our youngest, i now realise that petit-petit is going through a phase! does that make you feel better? btw, we don't get the night walking, we've been getting the 'night screaming', where the little guy sits up in his bed and screams and sobs at say 2am. and there's not a damn thing we can do until he is all cried out!
be well. x
That sucks! We had similar issues here with Eva and wee, she would wee everywhere and now the carpet in her room smells like a kings cross alley!
I have heard that undies over the nappy can work, maybe some awful disney princess undies would be a novelty?
Eva once poo'd in the garden and then bought it inside to show me, it was everywhere, so, so, so disgusting!
I would be calling your Parenting Line in your state and talking to the Family and Child Health Nurse. She may have some good ideas???
Gosh what a 'pooy' issue.... Do let us know what ideas you get!
I recently got a couple of size 2 long and short-sleeved onesies at Target (just the basic "Baby Club" brand)- they might do the trick? They were in with the baby clothes section rather than the toddlers.
What a nightmare. Good luck!
oh I thought I was the only one....we went through the same thing a few months ago and I handled it badly. I went from screaming/ranting one day to foetal position crying the next - there are only so many times you can calmly explain poos are for the potty. It seemed to last forever. There was the newly rendered bbq in brown, new brown stripes on the loungeroom curtains, lovely surprises in anything that resembled a potty (oh except for the potty itself of course!)and the body paint - the glorious body paint!!! this progressed into an uncontrollable need to feed every poo to our dog. We tried everything and not much worked...all I can say is, try to stay calm and consistent, it does eventually sink in. You could also try putting the nappy on firmly - backwards. It might give you a few days grace, until the little clever clogs figures out the tabs are on the back anyway.
My nearly two-year-old son can un-pop a onesie in three seconds flat. If you can find one that comes with a padlock (in child-friendly colours, natch) do let me know.
poor bloody you. Je-sus.
Busy is crackin them too of late and at this rate may not make it to her 4th b'day. So although I have no advice to give or suggestions to try- we are going through some pain also if it makes you feel better. We have actually started to remove toys if she is naughty - this seems to work... good luck. Deep breath.
sorry but your post made me giggle out loud - but I too feel your pain because we are having fairly similar poo-scapades happening here - its more to do with potty training though, ellie will happily wee on the potty but poos - no way, why use the potty when you can nip into mum's bedroom and leave a little present on the carpet next to her bed.
Good luck with it all
I second Angie's undies idea. It has worked well here, not completely toilet trained yet but very very very close. Bonds make a generous onesie in size 2 - you are welcome to ours if you need them (but I'd go with undies first).
Have absolutely no idea about the tantrums. We are having our fair share here at the moment as well.
Poor Mama. Poor Tiny.
I'm going to steer clear of the poo and go the tanties instead!
Is she having night terrors?? - where she isn't really awake. My middle child had this and we were advised to really wake her up. Take her outside, turn on the tv, even use a wet face washer... and when we did wake her it was just a quick cuddle and back to bed.
Daytime tanties (and at nearly 5 we still get rippers) after a reasonable amount of time I give the child an 'out' - an opportunity to come out of the screaming mess other than saying sorry or saying anything (and you can deal with the tantrum when you're both calm!) Mostly this would be when our super aggressive tantie thrower would bump an arm, leg we'd make a fuss over it and suggest a bandaid or big cuddles. I've also had success calling dad at work (good for them to hear it too!!! but not reason for call) and ask him to call back. If child likes to answer/speak on the phone this can sometimes break the cycle. As long as you're not giving in for the reason they've thrown the wobbly, it's all fair in my book!
I'm still dry reaching about the poo!
Oh your poor things! Sorry no advice. x
With tantrums, no matter where we were, home or in public, if one of our kids was having their turn at working on a tantrum, I'd check their immediate surroundings to ensure they wouldn't hurt themselves, tell them to "come find me when you're done" and walk away. No telling them to stop, no trying to make them stop, no entering into it and just letting them get on with it. No audience? No fun in the tantrum. They only ever tried once or twice each, generally after seeing someone else succeed in getting their own way by doing it. At shopping centres I'd go maybe 5-10 metres away and repeat my phrase quite loudly if too many people looked worried and also to let the onlookers know Mum was there and was watching but wasn't caving to the action. I'd have a drink of water, look at my receipts, my shopping whatever to pass the time. At home I'd start doing the dishes or fold the washing so I was easily found once the kid calmed. Sometimes I'd set up painting and start doing that with the others or play dough, but never tell them what I was doing, maybe just mention it to the other kid or talk to myself, it was always amazing how they had their ears turned on to what was being said even though they were screaming the house down.
I found that if the tantrums were coming from frustration about not being able to do something because they were too little, giving them a small job that became theirs like putting their jammies on their bed or putting their plastic cup on the sink (yes they could barely reach!!) helped to give them a sense of control over what was happening in their lives instead of always being at odds with the "rules" or Mum and Dad's wishes.
Good Luck with Tiny, it is just a stage and it to will pass and then she will go on to the next one. Best wishes for you maintaining your sanity and a nice smelling house. Cat litter tray scoops are good for pickinh up no.2 off the carpet if it's not squashed in and Febreeze helps with the smell.
Oh dear! That's a sticky situation (sorry for the bad joke...)
I have no idea as I'm not a mama yet, but my thoughts are with you. Apparently when I was a toddler I wasn't into clothes either, luckily I grew out of that.
Best of luck! x
oh no that doesn't sound like too much fun, but it does make for very entertaining reading, does that make you feel better? :)
my sister used to strip her clothes off and run around in the nud until she was about 5 years old.. so hopefully it won't last that long.
Good luck!
Oh welcome to my world.
Once she cuts one up with scissors then you'll be in my territory.
Nothing has worked and it's basically been going on for six months when he turned 2 and refused to wear nappies any longer. Seriously, refused. And is also a nudist. Undies. Pfft. Get real.
I've tried everything - the ignoring it (in terms of response level), the 'oh, next time let's go to the toilet', the ranting and raving. He knows exactly what he's doing and will basically keep doing it until he decides otherwise. Once I accepted this we've had much more success (combined with me being the storm chaser of turds - following him around everywhere) but I've just resigned myself to the cold hard reality that it is a phase we're just going to have to ride out.
The poo play just slays me each and every day, sometimes a few times a day.
oh gosh...i feel for you. ché isn't overly interested in toilet training and he actually likes to wear a nappy and for that i am grateful. check out naturebaby.co.nz ... their all-in-ones are quite long....size 2 comfortably fits che now.
i admire you for your patience. you deserve 100 nights out with the girls.
Oh, you made me laugh. Only because we've been through this stage already! Best wishes, and keep sane, it will pass.
(Backwards diapers do help, as do gro-bags, or just putting a potty nearby and seeing what happens).
Oh good grief this gave me a flashback to when we went into Elton's room, he had bronzed his cot, fallen back asleep after his Pro Heart moment, woke up, smiled at us and had it on his teeth.
Ben still wakes up in a hot, sweating mess.
When they are going through this stage, you think it will never, ever, never ever end.
I don't think I did anything except buy a lot of spray and wipe...and then I gave up and resorted to bribery. Good old fashioned bribery. Thanks to Cadbury Freddo Frogs, we went from bad chocolate in the mouth to good chocolate in the mouth.
The mummy police will be after me, but it works.
Dont you love how men like to share those moments with you when you are out? We should ring them and share more often.
Hope some of the great suggestions helped!
Oh no, I had wiped the poo from my memory... but Melody, bless her, would have matched your Tiny poo for poo.
She'd smear it everywhere, cot railings, walls, windows,bed sheets... and yes, teeth! Yukkity yuk yuk yuk.
Onesies wouldn't have stopped her either, she is a houdini. So... this may shock...we taped her nappy up at night. With gaffa tape, or masking tape, or whatever we could get our desperate hands on. We'd wrap the tape on a few times around her nappy at the waist, not too tightr, but tight enough she couldn't undo it. Sounds horrid, but it worked. She got over it. She only ever used to do "the smear" with her night nappy. And, soon she was all potty trained and all lived happily ever after... except for the tantrums... Gees it's exhausting work sometimes this motherhood gig.
May the Force be with you on the 2-3yr-old journey Lexi
x
Post a Comment